Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.

22 November 2012

The 2012 Turkey Awards

An annual tradition for over a decade! This is my list of ridiculous people from 2012 (so far). Pass me one of those rolls, please:

The Greasy Gravy Award for oily publicity that makes the main dish inedible goes to the local and state governments of Arizona(PDF) for clothing their nearly overt racism in concern for the economic "burden" of "unlawful" immigration (when the immigration laws are, themselves, a relic of racism... especially when one looks at them in detail). One must wonder aloud about how many of the sherriff's and governor's ancestors had the documents they would demand of anyone with brown skin found in Arizona... or, for that matter, whether they themselves carry sufficient proof of US citizenship on their persons and are prepared to present that proof on demand to any law-enforcement officers who stop them. Since this particular award is for a sauce, I wish to put it on the goose and the gander.

The Broken Wishbone Award for shattering dreams goes to both major political parties, who accept Emmanuel Goldstein ("the object of power is power") more than they do the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. The real margin of error in all polling related to this election was not some percentage figure based upon misuse of sampling-error estimates; it was who the parties chose to run for office.

The Golden Gristle Award for assertions far too difficult to digest (and usually stuck in one's teeth) goes to Fox News for more, umm, "creative reporting" than I can put on the table. Mr. Ailes's kingdom certainly isn't the only exemplar of this sort of thing. I'll freely admit that the "fairness doctrine" was worse, but there's a very simple reason that many media outlets have reporters/anchors/other actual providers (as opposed to owners and production staff and back-room powerbrokers) who seem to lean opposite Fox News et al.: Those are the people who actually discern the facts, and the facts are leaning left... and won't bow to the ideological preferences and unenlightened self-interest (aka greed) of the people who own the media (who lean much farther right).

The Crabapple Pie Award for marketing something sour as something sweet goes to Grover Norquist and the Americans for Tax Reformfor the Rich, who constantly seem to forget that the police protection paid for by taxes, and the trained workforce coming out of public schools and paid for by taxes, and the enviably efficient legal system paid for by taxes (if you don't believe me, try dealing with the system in, say, Italy), and not least the military that intervenes to protect interests overseas that is usually not fully paid for by taxes, all disproportionately benefit the upper classes. Sure, there's some waste in government, and some ridiculous programs that are completely irrational... but anyone with even the most elementary understanding of thermodynamics or human nature knows that an efficient system is extremely condition-specific, and this world is constantly changing. Unfortunately, I can't really say that Norquist lies every time he protests that taxes are too high, because "lie" implies a certain level of self-awareness that hasn't been apparent in, oh, thirty years.

The Brussels Sprout Award for stinky, slimy, overcooked, gentrified little cabbages goes to Jill Kelley and the rest of the arrogant little people involved in the downfall of the director of the CIA... not excluding said director. A dishonorable mention goes, in a related side dish, to those Heffalump members of the Senate who have rushed to judgment on Ambassador Rice with even less reason, with the disturbing undercurrent of attempting to deflect attention from their own policy, behavioral, and intellectual shortcomings.

The Dried-Out Breastmeat Award for overcooking the books goes to the Congressional lemmings intent on rushing off the fiscal cliff in the name of ideological purity on both sides, but in particular on the Heffalump side. If one excludes the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions — and I mean the fully extended cost, not just the literal one; that is, the cost overruns in new systems caused by inadequate attention, etc. — one would find that the budget is actually close to balanced, and that instead we're just dealing with deficits inherited from the 1980s (gee, who was in power then?). And all of that assumes that nobody has actually read Keynes.

Nobody should assume from the foregoing that I was not in favor of "enforced regime change" in Iraq and/or Afghanistan. The ill-chosen mechanism is what I object to, particularly in light of its entirely avoidable costs (many of which appear nowhere on any balance sheet).

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Internet link sausages, as frequently appear here, are gathered from uninspected meaty internet products and byproducts via processes you really, really don't want to observe; spiced with my own secret, snarky, sarcastic blend; quite possibly extended with sawdust or other indigestibles; and stuffed into your monitor (instead of either real or artificial casings). They're sort of like "link salad" or "pot pourri" or "miscellaneous musings" (or, for that matter, "making law"), but far more disturbing.

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Blog Archive

Warped Weft

Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of the more infamous threads that have appeared here by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.

Other Blawgs, Blogs, and Journals

These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.

How Appealing is aimed at appellate lawyers and legal news in general. If you care about the state of the law, start here — Howard's commentary is far better balanced, better informed, and better considered than any of the media outlets. To concentrate on the US Supreme Court, don't forget SCOTUSBlog.

Some academics' blawgs with a variety of political (and doctrinal) viewpoints:

The main European IP blawg of interest remains the UK-based IPKat, on a variety of intellectual property issues, with some overlap (with a less Eurocentric view) at IPFinance

The American Constitution Society blawg is a purportedly "liberal" counterweight to the so-called "Federalist Society" (which, despite its claims, should be called "Tory Society") that has yet to establish much coherence... but maybe that's all to the good.

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